NY Food Truck Lunch: Chicken Biryani From Tariq’s #1 Halal Food

Perry, the voice behind New York Street Food, brings you his latest review on New York City food trucks and carts.

Over the summer we were introduced to Tariq’s #1 Halal Food Cart by one of our readers. We enjoyed a nice sauteed fish dish on our first time there, and thought it was time to go back for another visit.

(credit: New York Street Food)

The chicken biryani sounded good, and it costs only $5.50. The thing about Tariq is that he’s proud of his food, and wants everyone to try everything. That’s why our chicken biryani had a few pieces of both chicken tikka and chicken tikka masala.

The other thing Tariq was proud of was a new green sauce he created. You can see it in the upper right corner of the photo below. We asked what was in it, and he said “3 or 4 different types of chilies and some herbs”. Looking forward to trying the new green sauce.

The chicken tikka had some nice pieces of boneless chicken in a creamy sauce. The chicken tikka masala was a deeper red, and had more of a tomato-based sauce. But we didn’t go there to review the chicken tikka & masala, we were in the mood for biryani.

Once the chicken tikka & masala were gone, we could get a better idea of the chicken biryani.

(credit: New York Street Food)

Tariq’s biryani looks like chicken and rice, but is spiced really well. Not in the spicy sense, but in terms of herbs and spices.

Indian cuisine is always so fragrant from the herbs and spices used, and Tariq’s biryani was no exception. The chicken biryani is not as colorful as either the chicken tikka or masala dishes, but achieves a more complex taste from various herbs and spices. In a biryani, there’s not a heavy sauce to do the heavy lifting of imparting flavor.

There was a nice amount of chicken in the biryani, mainly dark meat, but still boneless. It was quite tender too.

Tariq’s #1 Halal Food Cart does not have a website or twitter account, but they are parked on the NW corner of 19th St & Park Ave South every weekday for lunch.

Since the first time we were there, business has grown enough so that Tariq now has another man working with him in the cart.

So far our favorites have been the Fish Over Rice and the Chicken Tikka sampled abovei. Next time we’ll have to stop by on a Friday to try the Shrimp Vuna. If you’re getting the fish, we suggest calling ahead to 347-757-2736 because it takes 5-10 minutes to cook.